


The Valley Town

by thehorrorinsymmetry



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Found Family, M/M, Stardew AU, content warnings in notes for past abuse, trans Finn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9890279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehorrorinsymmetry/pseuds/thehorrorinsymmetry
Summary: Finn takes a day off but it ends up being far more eventful than he'd planned.





	

**Author's Note:**

> cw for mentions of past emotional abuse, one mention of physical abuse, and one mention of transphobia
> 
> i stick pretty close to the stardew universe so it will probably offer a little more if you've played the game (which you absolutely should it's an amazing game) but it'll still make sense even if you haven't

Finn wipes at his forehead with the back of his hand, satisfaction coursing through him as he surveys the newly harvested blueberries. They’re perfect, luscious and ripe, the flavour bursting on his tongue when he tries a handful. Even Han will be willing to pay top dollar for these - for the ones he’s willing to part with, at least. He’s been waiting to break in his new preserves jar. 

He manages to finish up his morning chores by ten despite taking his time in the coop with the newer ladies. With summer coming to an end it’s too late to think about planting more crops but not quite time to solidify his plan for the fall. He could always work on clearing more of the seemingly endless land or try to pull together enough resources to finally get the barn he’s been working up to for months. 

On the other hand - it’s probably one of the last warm summer days with the sun shining bright in the clear sky - maybe it’s time for a day off.

 

\--

 

He stops at Han’s shop first to get caught up on the town bulletin board before making to Rey’s forge on the other side of town. She lets him stick around when he gives her gives her some berries, but there’s only so much time he can spend next to the fire before getting anxious so he eventually leaves her to it. 

Chirrut catches him on his way back through town and invites him over for a cup of coffee. Unsurprisingly, it turns into Baze cooking a hefty lunch and a few rounds of cards. They catch him up on the latest gossip and ask a few pointed questions about his dating life before sending him off with two containers full of food.

It’s mid afternoon by the time he leaves. He decides to take the long way home and keep his eye out for sweet peas, maybe even some wild grapes. 

He does not find grapes. 

Instead, he barely gets past Karé’s ranch before he sees him.

Poe. 

The man is sitting against a tree near the pond, focused on the book in his lap and blissfully ignorant of his surroundings.

Heart thudding in his chest, he tries to get himself under control. Of course, before he manages to relax BB spots him. She barks, her tail wagging wildly as she runs toward him, knocking into his legs like she does every time. 

“Finn, hey!” 

He glances up and can’t help but smile back at Poe. “Hey, man. I thought you were at the clinic on Mondays?”

“Yeah, usually. The doc’s at a conference this week, so I get some time off.” Poe runs his hand over BB when they make it to where he’s sitting. “It’s so nice outside, so BB and I thought we’d make a day of it. How are things on the farm?”

“It’s good, yeah.” He shifts his weight. “I’m just taking a day off, too.”

“Oh, sweet! Are you rushing off anywhere? You should hang out here - um, for a bit, if you want?”

“Oh - uh, are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt -”

“You’re not interrupting at all, buddy.” Poe closes his book and scoots over a bit, tossing his discarded shoes a few feet away to make a spot for Finn. “C’mon, this tree’s big enough for two.” 

He blinks. Careful to not touch Poe as he sits down, he pulls his knees to his chest and tries to look anywhere other than Poe’s bare legs. If he focuses on the gently lapping water or the way the trees shift in the breeze instead of how close they are this is actually fairly relaxing. “This is nice.”

“Yeah,” Poe rolls his head onto his shoulder and grins at him. “This is probably my favourite spot in the whole valley. It’s so relaxing and when the sun sets over the mountains it’s gorgeous. It’s the best spot for stargazing too, on clear nights.”

Finn nods. The sudden heat in his cheeks must be from the sun. 

“I actually fell out of this tree when I was a kid. I broke my leg in two spots and was in a cast for approximately forever, but this spot’s so good I had to forgive it.”

“Oh my God,” He snorts. “Really?”

Poe pulls the leg of his shorts up and points to a jagged scar midway up his thigh. “My femur was poking out right there. Pa always said that’s why I stayed so short.” 

“You’re not that short.”

“Oh I’m definitely short.” Poe knocks his shoulder against Finn’s shoulder. “You’re just short too, buddy.” 

He breathes a laugh but is too distracted by Poe’s shoulder still pressed against his to bother replying. “What, uh - what were you reading?”

“Hm? Oh -” Poe turns the book to show him the cover. “It’s one of my favourites, I’ve probably read it a hundred times.”

“Huh.”

“Have you ever heard of it?”

He shakes his head, looking at the spaceship and presumably alien planet on the cover. “What’s it about?” 

“There’s this kid Avery that lives in this small town and she thinks she’s totally ordinary but she ends up going on this amazing adventure in space and falls in love - all the usual young adult lit stuff.” Poe laughs, his cheeks pinkening. “It’s pretty ridiculous but it was my favourite series when I was a kid. Plus I totally had a huge crush on Pyk.”

Finn keeps his gaze trained on the book so he doesn’t end up staring at Poe.

He is absolutely not allowed to be jealous of a fictional character.

“Oh?” He clears his throat. “What’s he like?”

“Well, he’s got blue skin and three eyes.” 

He bursts out laughing. “Oh, so that’s your type?”

“I think it had more to do with his kindness and bravery. The way he travelled across the galaxy and infiltrated the bad guys’ base to save some people he didn’t even know?” Poe fans himself with a grin but his cheeks are still flushed. “If that happens to be my type, well, I think it could probably be a lot worse.”

“It sounds like a pretty great book.”

“It is!” Poe bites his lip. “Uh - if you’re not in a rush I could read some of it to you? If you want? I read to BB sometimes and - I was starting from the beginning again anyway, so -”

“You read to BB?” 

“Yeah, sometimes, when I’m feeling anxious. She’s a pretty great listener.” 

Finn tries to swallow down the sudden wave of affection. “Yeah, okay, that sounds nice.”

“Sweet!” Poe grins and cracks the book open. “Settle in buddy, you’re in for a wild ride.”

 

\--

 

For all of the time Finn had spent thinking about Poe in the past year, he admittedly had never thought about the man reading to him. This was probably for the best considering how wonderfully agonizing the past half hour has been. 

Poe is so totally into the book that he has a different voice for every character. He repeatedly gestures with his hands only to apologize after losing the page. There’s a running commentary and a joyful smile whenever they get to a particularly good moment.

It’s all taking a toll on him. 

The book in Poe’s hands is weathered, the spine opening further than should be possible and the edges softened and eroded. Poe, with all his enthusiasm, turns each page carefully and holds the book gently, keeping his knee bent to shield it from the breeze. 

“Hey, Poe?”

Poe closes the book, using his fingertip to keep their place. “Yeah?”

“Did you want to be like her when you grew up? Is that why you liked the book so much?”

Poe bites his lip, his gaze travelling the back cover of the book for a moment. “Um, yeah, kind of. I - my childhood was a lot happier than hers, obviously, but - I wanted adventure like that, to...”

“Save the universe?”

Poe laughs. “Yeah, pretty much. I wanted to do something big - something meaningful, you know?”

He really does. 

“I had a great childhood - the best - and I love Stardew, but growing up in this tiny little town always felt kind of stifling? There’s so much out there and my parents had all these stories about the places they’d been. When I was growing up I was  _ positive _ that I was gonna go to the big city and find my way, find love, find a bigger life than Stardew.”

Finn swallows. “Do you - still want that?”

“I mean, I did leave for a few years. I left and got my engineering degree, fell in love - thought I did, anyway - and I managed to line up a pretty great job after.” Poe laughs. “Unsurprisingly it didn’t hold up to my extremely romanticized views. At some point I realized you don’t have to save the universe to matter or make an impact, and I really missed this place, so I came back.”

Finn is acutely aware of the pressure of Poe’s arm against his. He shoves his hands under his legs to keep from doing anything ridiculous like kissing the ridiculous, amazing man that had a crush on a blue alien. 

“What about you? I don’t think you’ve ever actually told me why you moved here - besides that your grandpa gave you the farm.”

He takes a deep breath. He’s been dreading this moment for so long but this is Poe - Poe, who has never done anything to make him uncomfortable. Poe, who has always accepted him.

He can trust Poe.

“I, uh, I never actually met him. My grandfather.” He stares at the grass in front of him. “I’m an orphan.”

“Finn - what?”

“My parents were killed in a car crash when I was two. I, uh, I don’t remember them, but they sounded like really great people from what I’ve heard.” He swallows. “But, um, I grew up in this foster home that - it wasn’t owned by the First Order, I don’t think they can really do that, but the people that ran it worked there and they donated a lot of money to help support the kids. I got a job with them when I was in high school. All the kids did.”

Something touches his hand that nearly makes him jump out of his skin. He blinks down at where Poe’s hand is covering his. Before he can process it he turns his hand beneath Poe’s and entwines their fingers together. Poe smiles at him reassuringly, his grip firm. 

“They were really strict and they discouraged us from getting to know each other. A lot of the kids were too scared to do anything. One of the kids - everyone called him Slip - he was probably my closest friend there. He, uh, he didn’t do well at work and he ended up getting into this argument with one of the foster parents. I don’t know if he left or if they - I never saw him again. No one even talked about him, he just stopped existing overnight.” 

The words pour out of Finn, a rambling mess, but now that he’s let it out he can’t stop halfway through. He tells Poe about trying to find his family and figure out what happened to him, about the time his boss had hit him. His heart races as he talks, his stomach twisting and turning. 

“They didn’t force us to stay, officially, but after I turned 18 I had to start paying for rent and food, and I was still expected to help out with the younger kids - to learn ‘motherly duties’.” He laughs hollowly. “So I never had the money to try to get out or the time to find other work. There wasn’t anyone I could turn to and they’d tell us that if we did leave, we’d fail and they wouldn’t be so kind as to help after we abandoned them.”

He focuses on Poe’s hand and watches BB snore peacefully at their feet. “I found some mail, when I was 22. Didn’t even think I’d get mail, I was just looking for some forms, but I guess my grandfather somehow found me. Kind of. It was his lawyer, saying he left me something in his estate. I managed to call them and they told me about this farm in some place I’d never heard of.” 

He drags his thumb along the side of Poe’s palm. “I knew it was the best - the only - chance I’d probably ever get, so I stole my birth certificate, took enough money to get here and picked up the deed that night. I didn’t know what they’d do if they caught me or if they’d try to find me once they realized what happened, but I couldn’t stay.

“I almost left when I saw they were here too, but Leia caught me on my way to get a bus ticket. For so long the most important thing to me was to get away from them. I thought about maybe jumping from town to town, just staying long enough to make some money and then leaving to make sure I was always a step ahead of them. But Leia let me vent and then instead of telling me what to do she just hugged me and told me that she cared about me. I’d only been here for a few weeks and that was the most kindness anyone had shown me in years.”

“The thing is - I forgot what it was like to have that. Before I knew they were here, this place was like heaven. There was so much freedom, so many people I wanted to get to know. I left the city because I didn’t want to let them control me anymore but if I let them take this away from me too they’d still have a grip on me. So I stayed.” He finally looks up at Poe and pauses at the sight of unshed tears in the man’s eyes. “It was the best decision I’ve ever made. This year has been so much more amazing than I ever thought would be possible. Working on the farm, finding out I’m kind of magic, getting to really be myself and get know everyone - getting to know you. It’s been worth everything, every moment it took to get here.” 

For a moment everything is perfectly still. Poe stares at him, his fingers lax in Finn’s. The next thing Finn knows he’s splayed on his back with Poe on top of him and Poe’s face shoved into his neck. He wraps his arms around Poe carefully. “Poe? Are you okay?”

Poe lets out a sound that lands somewhere between a laugh and a sob that does nothing to calm Finn’s nerves. He rubs circles into Poe’s back and tries to get his breathing under control. 

“I can’t believe you just asked me that. Christ, Finn.” Poe pushes up onto his elbows and stares at him, cupping his head with both hands. “You are the best man I have ever met.”

He takes a deep breath. Poe smiles at him and runs his fingertips through Finn’s short hair. “I’m so glad you stayed, Finn. My life is so much brighter with you in it.”

“Me too. Uh,” He tightens his grip on Poe’s shirt. “You make my life better too.”

Poe bites his lip. His gaze drops to Finn’s mouth just for a moment before flickering back to his eyes when he reflexively licks his lips. Poe drops an inch closer, nuzzling his nose against Finn’s, his breath tickling Finn’s cheek. 

He closes the distance.

Poe moves immediately, melting into the kiss. It takes them a moment to get the angle right - Poe’s nose bumps against his a little too hard and he almost bites Poe’s lip in surprise, but then they get it right. It’s intoxicating with the press of Poe’s lips against his, both of them smiling too much for it to be anything else. He feels as if he’s floating, as if Poe’s weight is the only thing keeping him on the ground. 

Poe presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, his cheek, his temple, Poe’s thumb grazing back and forth along his jaw. Pulling away, Poe smiles at him like he hung the stars in the sky. 

He was right. 

This was worth every second.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> i have a like 20k stardew au all planned that i will probably never have time to write so i've stuck a LOT of little things into here haha 
> 
> i'm feeling super rusty since i haven't had time to write in about six months so i would really appreciate comments and kudos


End file.
